Czy to była porażka? Polityka repatriacyjna Polski w latach 1989–2024
Was It a Failure? Poland’s Repatriation Policy between 1989 and 2024

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on Poland’s repatriation policy after 1989, which is often criticizedfor its limited effectiveness. The aim of the paper is to determine whether this policy shouldindeed be regarded as a “failure”? Drawing on analyses of legal acts, strategic documents,statistical data, and scientific literature, we reconstruct the stages and factors leading totransformations of this policy over the past 35 years. We highlight its political dimension,reflected in symbolic engagement with the issue of repatriation rather than in its effectiveresolution. At the same time, based on a mid-2024 survey conducted by the Committeefor Migration Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, we present the views of actorsinvolved in implementing the repatriation programme regarding its assumptions, imple-mentation challenges, the division of financial responsibilities, and support for repatri-ates settling in Poland. Both the desk research and the empirical findings indicate thatthe policy has enjoyed consistent support from successive governments, alongside pol-icymakers’ awareness of its limited effectiveness and the lack of a coherent vision forimprovement. As a result, it takes the form of apparent action, producing only symbolic“success”.

• Details
• Contents